Alabama death row inmate found dead inside cell

Authorities say an Alabama death row inmate was found dead in his cell from an apparent suicide Sunday morning.

Posted: Jun 4, 2018 9:34 AM

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Authorities say an Alabama death row inmate was found dead in his cell from an apparent suicide Sunday morning.

The Alabama Department of Corrections said 57-year-old Jeffrey Lynn Borden was found hanging by a bed sheet in his cell during a security check at 2:30 a.m. He was pronounced dead at 3 a.m., a prison spokesman said.

Borden was convicted of killing his estranged wife, Cheryl Borden, and her father, Roland Harris, in Jefferson County in 1993. Borden, who was separated from his wife, was returning their three children to the Christmas Eve gathering after a weeklong visit with him.

Prosecutors said he shot Cheryl Borden in front of the children as she helped move their Christmas gifts and clothing and then shot Harris as he ran for help.

Borden had been scheduled to get a lethal injection last year, but a federal judge halted the execution hours before Borden was to be put to death.

The stay was issued because the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals ordered additional proceedings in an ongoing lawsuit filed by Borden and other inmates challenging the humaneness of the state's lethal injection process.